Rob Liefeld is disputing public allegations made by Big Apple Comic Con that Liefeld was unprofessional in how he decided to cancel his schedule appearance at the convention, which is set for this coming weekend.
The convention organizers took the unusual approach of blasting Liefeld on social media for canceling due to concerns about the recent rise in COVID cases and not informing them (the organizers claims that they were not informed at all until they read about it on social media).
The post on the Big Apple Comic Con Facebook page read, "We are terribly sorry to inform all our fans and Rob Liefeld's fans that he will not be coming to the July 17th show. Sadly he never informed us, and his agent has not answered any calls. We were "informed" by messages about a Facebook and Twitter post. We do not understand what has happened, perhaps his agent is also ill. We pray he is well and all is well. Needless to say we find the silence and disregard for common professional practice disrespectful to his fans and to the BACC as we were all enthusiastic about his presence on July 17th at the Big Apple Comic Con Silver Anniversary Prequel Expo. Frankly we do not know what to make of it, we have never seen anything like it in 25 years."
Liefeld responded on his own Facebook page by saying, "I’m truly shocked that they have responded in this manner. I acted immediately when learning I could not travel and informed so as to give them nearly 5 days advance notice."
The star artist continued, "[N]ot only did they know and were informed, they then contacted me directly Tuesday afternoon, twice and through additional partners to offer me additional, un-requested sums of money in order to make the trip. I declined. They reached out to my rep as well. These were through text messages and are time stamped. This statement from BACC is completely false."
The Convention had previously tweeted, "Let's get this clear, we are terribly sorry that Rob Liefeld will not appear (as promised & contracted) at the July 17 BACC. We are sorry for his fans and our fans. That Mr.Liefeld never informed the BACC of his decision is unconscionable & shows no respect for fans or contracts."
Liefeld later shared a message he had receive from the convention, while noting, "So, turns out my rep has all manner of voice mails, one from an Avanti that works alongside the gentlemen who run Big Apple Comic Con. Here’s an excerpt. Mike Carbonaro who owns the show, at least that’s my understanding, spoke to my rep on Tuesday, being informed that I was unable to attend, there are records of this call. We received this the following day. Lovely. They had and have full knowledge of my being unable to be at the show. And they sent this. This is the nice stuff. "
Source: Facebook